Why autistic people struggle with multiple choice testing

10 min read

Let's talk about why autistic people struggle with multiple choice testing and what it has to do with bottom-up processing...

But first, let's talk about why this matters because it can (and often does) hurt us in significant ways...

1. IQ tests universally include multiple choice questions and IQ scores are frequently used in early childhood education settings when assessing placement and support needs

Why is this an issue?

- It impacts how a person is perceived in academic settings

- It often results in incorrect assumptions about an autistic person's learning capabilities and needs

- It introduces prejudice and discrimination where it otherwise may not be present

2. Standardized testing also universally uses multiple choice testing approaches.

This applies across all academic institutions from early childhood education through advanced continuing education.

Why is this an issue?

- It significantly impacts a person's early and advanced academic opportunities

- It often also impacts a person's ability to get financial assistance or merit-based scholarships for academic opportunities (those they ARE able to access)

3. Hiring assessments and skill evaluations in work settings frequently employ multiple choice approaches

Why is this an issue?

- It creates barriers for autistic people when it comes to employment opportunities

- It creates barriers for advancement (and various other opportunities) within a person's career

4. Autism assessments universally use multiple choice questionnaires and assessment tools as part of the diagnostic process

Why does this matter?

- It can impact an autistic person's ability to receive an accurate result

- It often leads to a missed diagnosis or mis-diagnosis (oftentimes several)

To be clear, these are NOT insignificant issues for autistic people.

They create SIGNIFICANT barriers to getting access to much-needed supports...

And beyond that, significant barriers to actually ACHIEVING what a person would be FULLY CAPABLE of achieving if they were given those supports.

Now, let's talk about what multiple choice questions and testing have to do with bottom-up processing.

But first, a quick recap on what bottom-up processing is...

(I know this is getting long, but what I want to explain won't mean nearly as much without this context.)

Bottom-up processing is an analytical and methodical approach to processing new information.

The brain evaluates and assesses the new information by mapping it to existing knowledge and determining how the new information fits.

This analysis can go one of three ways...

If the new information conflicts with enough existing knowledge, it usually rejects it.

If it doesn't conflict, the brain decides how it fits and integrates it into its existing knowledge set.

And if it doesn't fit perfectly but there's enough of a reason to believe it's still valid, the brain will reconsider, restructure, and refine its existing scaffolding so the new information has a home.

The last one is actually what is happening most of the time. Because as humans, we are constantly revising and refining our understanding of the world.

And this process of acquiring new information is fundamental to how humans grow and learn.

Not just neurodivergent ones.

OK, but how does this relate to multiple choice testing?

What I just described is bottom-up PROCESSING. (A type of information processing.)

But there's a separate process brains go through when it comes to RETRIEVAL of information.

When asked a question, the brain makes instantaneous decisions regarding how to access the answer.

All of those decisions are gated behind what the question actually MEANS.

The brain can't begin the retrieval process if it is immediately confused by a vague or ambiguous question. Which is a very common issue for autistic people.

(And why so many autistic people also struggle with open-ended questions, but I digress.)

But let's say the question is relatively clear... except the answer is not open-ended, it's fixed in a 4 option list (aka a multiple choice question).

Now, the person has to evaluate which of the 4 options is the correct one.

For the top-down processor... this can be pretty quick and relatively easy because they access all sorts of mental shortcuts when deciding which is the most likely to be correct.

And similar to how they process new information, they are relatively comfortable with the risk of getting it wrong, knowing that the chances of them getting it right are greater.

(The reason this is the case is because in most multiple choice situations, the top-down processor is employing some amount of logic, even if it's imprecise logic...

And when a person employs any amount of logic, there is a significantly greater chance that they will get the answer right over selecting an answer at random.)

But this is not how bottom-up processors think when they are asked to retrieve information.

Most of us are not comfortable with just a higher _likelihood_ of a positive outcome. We want to be certain, or as certain as humanly possible that we are selecting the correct answer.

We want to follow the logic all. the. way. through.

Which, of course, slows us down. A lot.

And the system is currently set up to overwhelmingly favor speed over accuracy. Which puts us behind in almost every situation.

But it doesn't end there.

Now, we need to analyze and evaluate each individual option.

One at a time.

And even though 2 of 4 are often glaringly incorrect, at minimum, that leaves us with 2 options that require a FULL analysis.

So what do we do next?

We look at the question, and start mapping our existing knowledge set to the 2 possible answers.

Except, in many (if not most) cases, one answer was intentionally placed as an option with the EXPRESS PURPOSE of "tricking" the test taker.

Not for malicious reasons, but because it was intentionally designed to require that a person apply critical thinking and not just pick the obvious answer.

And though I get the rationale here, what this ACTUALLY does is give the bottom-up processing brain all sorts of EXTREMELY VALID reasons to not immediately exclude the option.

So, now... the bottom-up processing brain has to painstakingly evaluate and assess INTENTIONAL red herring information as part of its process.

(Which most top-down processing brains are comfortable dismissing using imprecise shortcuts.)

And this is where it causes the most problems for us...

The entire time we are evaluating the answer options, we are vacillating between what was actually asked (the question) and which answer is the most correct.

But many times, the question itself seems clear at first glance, but becomes unclear once the options (especially the red herring ones) are introduced.

Now INTERPRETATION becomes the true gate.

Meaning, how the person interprets the question AND each answer...

And each interpretation can significantly change the entire logic we're using when choosing an answer.

At this point, many of us are left so confused and exhausted that choosing between the two options is practically impossible.

So, we are back to square 1... choosing between the two options at random.

Even after all of our painstaking labor.

And you know where that leaves us?

Getting the question WRONG half the time because in spite of all our labor, our selection is still left up to chance.

And what does that mean for us in general?

- It means lower IQ scores that don't reflect actual ability.

- It means elementary schools thinking we are far less capable than we are (which was the case for me all through high school, actually)

- It means barriers when applying for jobs and being significantly underestimated in work environments (and major restrictions when it comes to promotions and career advancement opportunities).

And last, but most definitely not least...

- It means not understanding autism assessment questionnaires or questions in a live assessment.

(And being told "you passed the assessment with flying colors" when, in reality, your autism simply didn't show up in that very specific context. This is based on a true story)

So back to the beginning of this post and why it matters that we struggle with multiple choice testing...

This isn't just a little, insignificant issue for autistic people.

It sets the stage for our entire life.

It creates significant barriers for us along the way.

It meaningfully and significantly impedes our ability to achieve what our brains are FULLY CAPABLE of achieving IF how we process and retrieve information is actually understood...

IF we aren't presumed incompetent when we are just processing the world differently...

And IF we are evaluated in a way that reflects how we think...

The same luxury nonautistic people are afforded just by virtue of having a brain that the world was built to accommodate.